We come to a book by M. Vasilyev whose book Matter and Man we saw earlier. This book is similarly titled Metals and Man. There is another Vasilyev, namely N. B. Vasilyev, whose book with V.L. Gutenmacher titled Straight Lines and Curves (Mir, 1980) we will see soon, the current copy in circulation is not the Mir edition.

In Metals and Man the author takes a historical tour of different metals. And all the various ways in which the metals have been used to build and aid different structures across cultures.

The book was published by Mir in 1967 and was translated from the Russian by Boris Kuznetsov.

The Birth of Ores
Soviet Metal
The Mineral Wealth of the Country
Would-be Ores
From Mine to Factory
Upgrading the Ore-Mines or Drill-holes?
Metals in Flowers
Artificial Ore

3. THE CHIEF METAL 63

Its Weight in Gold
A Directory of Irons and Steels
The Roads to the Blast Furnace
Valuables Slag
Conversion to Steel
Bessemer Versus Martin
New Lease of Life
Steel Born of an Arc
Vacuum as a Helper
An Endless Ingot
A Turnpike for Steel
Looking for a Short-cut

STRENGTH 95

Test for Strength
Metals Work, Grow Tired, Creep
Additions That Improve
In Water and Fire
Martensitic Armour
Making a Strong Case
SteeL’s Runner-up
Hardened by Work
The Designer Adds Strength
The Red Death
Rust.

5. IN THE HANDS OF THE GREAT MASTER 123

The Shaping of Iron by Casting
Continuous Casting Uphill
By Sheer Force
In the Smithy
Joining of Metals
Inventors of Iron Stitches
Metal Against Metal
Cutting with a Spark

THE FLYING METALS 149

Not a Poor Relative
The Birth of Aluminium
Aluminium in Alloys
Metallic Foam
A Rival and an Ally
Again Electrolysis
A Piece of Ore Set in Gold
Powder Metallurgy
Are There Other Ways?
The Lightest of All Metals
Fuel for Spaceships
Search for Other Contestants
The Search Goes On

7. COPPER AND ITS NEIGHBOURS 185

Copper
What Is It Like?
Ever Leaner Ores
A Fluidized Bed
From Roasted Concentrate to Pure Metal
Brasses and Bronzes
A Neighbour and a Companion
No Easy Ways, Either!
Monel-Metal
Nickel in Overalls
Burning to Electricity
The Metal of Cans

VITAMINS FOR STEEL 205

Miners’ Goblin
Iron’s Inseparable Companion-
Where Acids Are Powerless
Not for Guns Alone
The Strongest and Most Refractory
A Neighbour of the Nobles
The Key to Stamina
Iron’s Rival-Other Jobs.

NUCLEAR FUELS 223

The Namesake of the Seventh Planet
Atomic Nuclei as a Fuel
The Ubiquitous Atom
Between Uranium and Lead
Alchemists’ Dream Comes True.

THE ETERNAL METALS 241

Blood and Sweat
Gold Nuggets and Gold Ore
Fineness
The Yellow Metal
The Dome of St. lsaac’s Cathedral
A Rival of Painters
Stauncher Than Gold
Platinum’s Companions
The Liquid Metal.

11. THEIR TIME WILL COME 259

A Tangle of Puzzles
Between Titanium and Tungsten
Metalloids
The Rest of the Rare Metals.
CONCLUSION 277